15th July 2015, 11:52 PM
Turbografx-16
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Space Invaders Plus (in Space Invaders: Fukkatsu no Hi (J)) - This is a pretty good ~1990 title in the popular Space Invaders franchise. The basic gameplay is Space Invaders, but with multiple hit points instead of many shield blocks to hide behind. Every four levels the game has a new setting. Space Invaders '91 on the Genesis took some ideas from this game and added to them, but Space Invaders Plus is also a very fun game. It's short but really hard (diagonal shots are particularly hard to avoid!), has branching paths, and has good, addictive, and simple gameplay. Unfortunately, the game is also very frustrating thanks to that high difficulty level and a heavy reliance on random luck -- UFOs only occasionally drop powerups, and which they drop is random, but success relies on getting good powerup drops. It's not a very well-designed system, Activision's "shoot four enemies of the same kind/color for a powerup" system from Space Invaders (late '90s remake) really was a great concept. Taito clearly thought so too, because their subsequent Space Invaders games -- Revolution, etc. -- all use it as well. This game was from long before that, unfortunately. The other random element here is the issue of the branching paths -- which stages you go to feels somewhat random. I honestly have no idea why I went to the stages I did. Is it just random? Is it based on score? Or is it based on how many shields you have? Or how many hits you've taken? I don't know, and can't figure it out. The game would be better if the progression made more sense. So yeah, I beat the game, but haven't beaten all the stages, for sure -- the time I won I didn't have to face that really hard level where the aliens jitter in place back and forth. Still though, despite the issues, I do like the game. Fire up, take out rows, move over... it's a simple, classic design, and it works.
Oh, Space Invaders: Fukkatsu no Hi consists of this game and a port of the color version of the original Space Invaders.
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Space Invaders Plus (in Space Invaders: Fukkatsu no Hi (J)) - This is a pretty good ~1990 title in the popular Space Invaders franchise. The basic gameplay is Space Invaders, but with multiple hit points instead of many shield blocks to hide behind. Every four levels the game has a new setting. Space Invaders '91 on the Genesis took some ideas from this game and added to them, but Space Invaders Plus is also a very fun game. It's short but really hard (diagonal shots are particularly hard to avoid!), has branching paths, and has good, addictive, and simple gameplay. Unfortunately, the game is also very frustrating thanks to that high difficulty level and a heavy reliance on random luck -- UFOs only occasionally drop powerups, and which they drop is random, but success relies on getting good powerup drops. It's not a very well-designed system, Activision's "shoot four enemies of the same kind/color for a powerup" system from Space Invaders (late '90s remake) really was a great concept. Taito clearly thought so too, because their subsequent Space Invaders games -- Revolution, etc. -- all use it as well. This game was from long before that, unfortunately. The other random element here is the issue of the branching paths -- which stages you go to feels somewhat random. I honestly have no idea why I went to the stages I did. Is it just random? Is it based on score? Or is it based on how many shields you have? Or how many hits you've taken? I don't know, and can't figure it out. The game would be better if the progression made more sense. So yeah, I beat the game, but haven't beaten all the stages, for sure -- the time I won I didn't have to face that really hard level where the aliens jitter in place back and forth. Still though, despite the issues, I do like the game. Fire up, take out rows, move over... it's a simple, classic design, and it works.
Oh, Space Invaders: Fukkatsu no Hi consists of this game and a port of the color version of the original Space Invaders.